


Concerto

by Umbry2000



Category: Arcaea (Video Game), プロジェクトセカイ カラフルステージ！| Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Drabble Collection, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29897370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbry2000/pseuds/Umbry2000
Summary: A collection of rhythm game drabbles and fics! Each chapter will feature different characters and relationships. Tags will be updated as I post more.
Relationships: Akiyama Mizuki/Shinonome Ena, Hikari/Tairitsu (Arcaea)
Kudos: 3





	1. Shares Appreciated! (Project Sekai, Ena/Mizuki, F/F)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ena posts a new drawing, and Mizuki is quick to show her appreciation.
> 
>  _Project Sekai Colourful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku, Shinonome Ena/Akiyama Mizuki (F/F)_  
>  _Slight spoiler warning for the Unsatisfied Pale Colour event._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place after the Unsatisfied Pale Colour event. To be honest, I only read some of the event chapters so this is mostly based on my interpretation of the event's theme song (the spoiler warning is just to be safe). I also haven't read all of the story chapters, so the characters are probably OOC.
> 
> I also don't know what their online handles are :(
> 
> There's no Miku in this, but happy Miku day all the same!

_Ding!_

At the familiar sound of a Twitter notification, Mizuki looked up from her laptop, where she was busy scrolling through YouTube videos of cute cats instead of doing her homework. A glance at the top right of her laptop screen as she swiped her phone from where it lay on the table informed her that it was currently 11 pm. Only one of her circle members would be posting this late at night. _Which one of them was it?_ She wondered.

Unlocking her phone screen, Mizuki winced from the brightness of the display. She hadn't touched her phone in a few hours and had forgotten to lower the brightness. Her bad.

Bringing down the notification menu with a quick flick of her finger, she perused the many notifications that had accrued there. Useless emails from her teachers at Kamiyama High School, some random system notifications... The most recent one read: Enanan - 

Oh! A new post from Ena! And with such an intriguing caption. How exciting!

Mizuki clicked on it immediately, eager to see Ena's newest creation. No matter what it was, she was sure that it was amazing.

She swivelled her chair around, tapping her fingernails on its arm as she waited impatiently for the image to load. "A day that I wish to experience again?" She wondered what that could be. There were a thousand things Mizuki could think of: the day Kanade invited them to join 25-ji, Night Code de, the first time their circles' songs broke a 1000 views... There were many joyful moments to pull from.

Looking down again, Mizuki paused her aimless spinning as she finally managed to see the fully loaded image. And what a beauty it was, as her breath caught in her chest.

It was a watercolour painting of the interior of a Ferris wheel carriage. The seats were the familiar deep purple of Phoenix Wonderland, painted with broad, powerful strokes. The night sky was visible through the clear glass ceiling in slashes of midnight blue, dotted with individual yellow stars.

But the main attraction found at the centre of the painting, that every other element directed one's eyes towards - two hands, fingers interlaced together tightly, arms resting in the respective laps of the people they belonged to, painted with the warmest of colours.

Mizuki recognised the scene. It was the day she and Ena had ridden the Ferris wheel together last week, admiring the night sky and enjoying each other's company. Halfway through the full cycle, Mizuki had grabbed Ena's hand, just wanting to try out how it felt. Ena's skin had been smooth under her thumb, but still warm despite the chilly evening air they'd had to wait in to ride the Ferris wheel. Her hand had felt small in her own, almost. Mizuki had always thought of Ena as strong-willed and determined, far stronger than herself. It's why she enjoyed teasing her so much. But the recent events had taught Mizuki that even Ena had moments when she was weak, tired and scared, moments where she needed the support of those close to her. Ena wasn't infallible, but Mizuki was all the more willing to be there for her.

That night, sitting on opposite sides of the carriage suspended high in the air, she had felt like they were the only two people in the whole world, isolated and alone. _But that wouldn't be so bad, would it?_ Watching the blush form on Ena's cheeks and feeling her warm presence so close by, Mizuki had thought so. She wouldn't mind spending the rest of eternity, waiting for the day all other life disappeared from the surface of the Earth, with just Ena.

_Enanan: A day that I wish to experience again. Shares appreciated!_

Features softening into a smile, Mizuki promptly pressed the like and retweet button. But she wanted to do something more! Clicking on the reply button and opening her keyboard, she chewed her lip as she contemplated what to type that could encompass her appreciation: not just of the illustration's beauty, but also the underlying feelings it expressed.

Oh, and a reply that would rile Ena up would be great too. She hadn't done _that_ in a while.

Thinking up the perfect reply, Mizuki broke out into a devilish grin as her finger began to fly across the keyboard. Ena would appreciate this one, alright.

* * *

Flopping back onto her bed, Ena yawned, laying an arm over her eyes as her other hand scrabbled to locate her phone on the bedside cabinet. It was about 1 am now, two hours since she'd posted her newest illustration onto Twitter. She always delayed going back onto her art account for a few hours after posting: even after she had learned to stop prioritising the engagement on her art account with the help of her friends, the residual nervousness at seeing initial reactions remained.

She knew it didn't matter. She painted for herself and no one else. Anyone who enjoyed her illustrations was just a bonus. And her friends would always be there to support her... Especially Mizuki.

Smiling at that thought and bolstered by the courage it gave her, Ena opened Twitter and navigated to her own page. 10 likes and 4 retweets... Not bad, really.

And was that a single reply? Just the sight of it filled her heart with joy. Who had been kind-hearted enough to leave one, and what had they said? She hoped they liked it...

_Amia: Love it! And u :p_

Ena dropped the phone like she'd been burned, covering her face as she blushed uncontrollably. "Mizukiiiii~~~~" she groaned. Ugh, this was exactly the type of thing Mizuki would do. And come to think of it, this was exactly the kind of reaction Mizuki would want - to see Ena all embarrassed and shy. She'd played right into her trap! If Mizuki were here, she'd no doubt be making fun of her and taking countless pictures to commemorate the priceless occasion.

Picking the phone up, Ena read through the reply from Mizuki once again, a warm smile forming on her face. Holding the phone close to her heart, she closed her eyes. Maybe that wasn't so bad...


	2. The Face of God (Arcaea, slight Hikari/Tairitsu, F/F)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a drawn-out battle, Tairitsu comes to a realisation.
> 
>  _Arcaea, slight Hikari/Tairitsu (F/F)_  
>  _Large spoiler warning for the ending of the Black Fate story pack._  
>  _Trigger Warning: slight mentions of blood._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this last October. This goes into the ending of the Black Fate story pack. Excited to see where Arcaea goes next!
> 
> Happy 4th-anniversary Arcaea! <3

Their battle had been never-ending, tearing the sky of glass apart as she shot piece after piece of sharp Arcaea at the girl in white. Hikari had done nothing but defend herself, blocking attack after attack with her own pieces of Arcaea, glowing as white as her own clothes, face scrunched up into a desperate grimace.

Tairitsu wondered what her own expression looked like right now. She had found hope again, for one fleeting moment, in the shape of the girl in front of her. Hikari, who had burned so earnestly with hope and compassion that Tairitsu had believed, for just a moment, that maybe she wasn’t hopeless. That maybe there was some chance that she could be freed from the endless vortex of pain and suffering that she was entrapped within. 

But alas, that illusion had shattered. She had been betrayed by this girl as well. She knew now that there really was nothing left for her in this dead, empty world. 

They had come to a stalemate, neither able to overpower the other with their equal mastery over the shards of glass that populated this world. 

Tairitsu screamed, needing to let the world know of her rage, even if there was no one here to bear witness but Hikari and the silent Arcaea. The Arcaea gathered around her in a swirling tornado, the dark shards glinting despite the absence of a sun in what passed for a sky in this world. 

The shards she had once sworn to destroy, who she had hated with her very being. The shards who had stabbed her heart and suffocated her in this abyss of darkness, smothering her with the memories of every atrocity that had ever been committed across every possible universe. The shards that had been her only constant in this cruel world. 

They had not betrayed her. 

The tornado grew in power, beginning to block out even Tairitsu’s vision. The last thing she saw was Hikari’s horrified expression before silence engulfed her.

* * *

Silence, for a split second, before knowledge flooded her mind. Knowledge of every being who currently walked this world of memories. Saya, Eto, Luna, countless others, struggling to find their own purpose…

In a World that didn’t have one.

Tairitsu smiled, feeling a single tear fall. 

One last gift from the shards that governed this world and made up its very being.

* * *

Hikari’s grimace only grew deeper as Tairitsu's attacks resumed with increasing ferocity, flinging vortex after vortex of swirling Arcaea at her counterpart. 

Her smile continued to grow as the Arcaea finally succeeded in slicing at Hikari’s skin, blood beginning to seep out of the numerous cuts that littered her pale whiteness. 

Hikari was warmth and brightness, the blood now coating her skin only adding to her vibrancy. Tairitsu would treasure that, treasure the screams she would surely hear, the only proof that they were alive. 

Hikari blocked the next attack with a red shard of Arcaea, one that Tairitsu had never seen before. She narrowed her eyes, searching through the knowledge that she now held as to the identity of that special shard. Ah, so that's what it was. The shard that had allowed Hikari’s awakening to her current form, the shard that had pulled her back from a void of blankness.

Cute, that Hikari thought it would protect her.

Tairitsu wouldn’t allow anything to stand in her way. After all, she was God now.

Since what was God, but one who knew all and controlled all?

She would let everyone know what it meant to be hopeless.

Her next attack ripped straight through Hikari’s defences, shattering that precious red shard and piercing straight through Hikari’s fragile body.

Tairitsu revelled in the look of fear and pain that crossed Hikari’s face, and the blood now spilling everywhere. 

Things had come to an end again, and silence prevailed.

But Tairitsu would have liked to have a moment, just a single moment more, to spend with Hikari. Without hatred beating in her heart and rage clouding her vision. To experience what it would be like to touch Hikari's hair, which looked soft as silk, and have it run through her fingers. To smile at how clumsy and clueless Hikari could be sometimes, at the carefree nature that still clung to her sometimes. To know what it would be like to spend a "normal day" with her.

It would never come true, no matter how hard she wished. For there was no future where they could be friends. Tairitsu had made certain to crush that prospect.

Ah, what a sad, lonely existence, fitting for an ugly monster like her, who knew only how to inflict suffering.

* * *

Hikari hummed a tune, clutching the shattered pieces of the Arcaea that had denoted her existence. The memory of herself, broken into a thousand tiny pieces that could never be put together again. Just like her own heart.

She had thought that, after finding herself and escaping the blinding white of nothingness that had threatened to engulf her forever, that she had _changed_. That she held the necessary conviction to try and do something about this world, to find out its origins and its machinations. 

Upon seeing the girl dressed all in black outside the ruins of the church, her heart had swelled with the hope that she had forbidden herself to feel. She had hoped that together, they could achieve what they couldn’t alone. The knowledge that she wasn't condemned to wander this world alone forever had been uplifting. To have it all come crashing down like this...

Tairitsu had been snappy at first, but still cooperative. Hikari had been getting through to her, had been _enjoying_ the time spent with her - watching Tairitsu get annoyed at the things she did, watching Tairitsu snicker at the bad jokes she made, watching Tairitsu smile when she thought Hikari wasn't looking. So what happened? What happened to lead them to _this_?

One girl engulfed in a tempest of hatred, and the other broken, and bleeding, all hope torn out of her battered body. Tairitsu had left long ago, perhaps thinking she was dead. 

Hikari was all alone again.

In this empty world that stretches on into eternity, which held no meaning to any of them. 

The white pieces of Arcaea swirled around her, as if responding to the pain and emptiness her soul held. Within their bright panes, the happy faces of strangers were reflected, dancing and celebrating and leading their best lives. It was like they were mocking her, the vapid shards that held nothing but frivolous emptiness that amounted to nothing. Just like her own existence. 

How very beautiful. 

Hikari laughed, and laughed, and laughed, for there was nothing else she could do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mm the tune that Hikari hums is [Arcahv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNnL750ViLY%20rel=).

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
